Walsh College celebrates women business leaders WITH VIDEO

Women-owned businesses have become a larger contributor to the U.S. economy, in fact, in a recent year they employed more than 13 million and generated $1.9 trillion in sales.

Walsh College, with campuses in Troy, Novi and Clinton Township, celebrated women in business on Wednesday with a conference called "Entrepreneur You" at the Troy campus.

The college is helping push women forward in the business world in many ways, said President and Chief Executive Officer of Walsh College Stephanie Bergeron.

"We're focused on helping women start businesses -- why is that important? Well, in today's world we've gone through a traumatic business cycle, many people have come to believe they'd rather work for themselves and pursue a dream than to work for someone else," Bergeron said.

Advertisement

Terry Barclay is the president and CEO of Inforum -- one of the four partners of Entrepreneur You. They are the largest network for professional women in Michigan with several thousand women members.

Watch a report on the women business leaders conference during today's News at Noon.

Barclay said there is a still a financing and networking gap for women, but their organization is working to get rid of any inequality.

"It's a great time for a women to be in business," Barclay said. "Women are actually starting their own businesses at two times the rate that male-led ventures are. I think that there's just a huge opportunity out there in our economy right now for people to start businesses and for those to grow and thrive as the economy turns around."

Sonia Harb, a senior director of a nonprofit agency in Dearborn called Access, attended the conference. Her organization works with aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners to help them grow.

"It's been a really interesting experience. The workshops so far have been amazing, really inspiring -- offering a lot of tools for us," Harb said.

Some advice Barclay offered for women wishing to start a business is to network and find support. She said any of their four partners of Entrepreneur You would be willing to help.

"It's always great to connect with a source of support and there are many," Barclay said. "... The state has been doing a great job, kind of building the network of sources ... depending on what you're looking for, there will be an organization for you."

The event was sponsored by four organizations -- Walsh College, Huntington Bank, the Michigan Women's Foundation and Inforum.